The One Who Sees
by Vinya
Summary: Slayer dreams have always been special- but when 16 year old Buffy starts seeing an older, angry, one eyed man that just might have it in for her... suffice to say, she's a little freaked out. A not so Zeppo, Xander story.
1. Prologue

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The One Who Sees  
By Vinya

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I'm gonna' do what any man would do about it. Something damn manly.  
Xander to Larry

Prologue: In My Dreamland

She turned over in her sleep, the pillow mussing her hair in just such a way, while the blankets tangled around her feet- unknown in the depth of her sleepiness. She snorted softly, and her eyes moved quickly in their REM state.

Buffy Summers had only now begun to dream.

She could smell salt water on the wind, and even feel the foam lapping up against her bare feet as she walked through the sand. Looking back behind her, she could see… there were no footprints where she had walked; this wasn't important however, in light of the fire. There were, however, the steps of others walking by and past her. Almost disappeared after being soaked by the ocean so many times.

A huge bon fire in front of her, set on the beach with no wood or kindling to keep it going. It sparked and spat at Buffy, and she smiled at the sight of it- she could she the flame, as though living, was almost responding to her… in fact, that seemed to be exactly what it was doing. Stepping closer, she could feel the heat of it hit her chest, warming her from the inside out.

Closing her eyes, the blonde girl focused on it, hard. The power, the warmth, everything that made her a slayer… she could feel it rising in her as she focused solely on it. Her strength, gifted to her by the powers that be.

With those thoughts of strength in her mind, she began to walk around the fire. One step, two steps. She was reminded of the Native American movies she had seen, with hundred of men dancing around the fire to get it going. To get emotions running high. -She considered doing the same; on some level she knew it would be all right, as this was but a dream. It was hard to explain.

She circled the fire, once, twice. Turning around to walk the other direction, her eyes on the centre of the fire at all times, it suddenly turned cold. It felt like sparks of ice were shooting upwards, letting the air freeze around the flames as it turned blue and green. Falling back she looked again at the fire, and saw that the tips of the flames had now turned a crispy dark- an ugly colour that she hoped against hope wasn't coming from _her_. She knew the power in her came from dark sources, but this…

Buffy stepped closer, trying to get back the feeling of warmth, but there was nothing… no, there was something. Freezing, hurting, alone. As she stepped closer she could feel all of these things, coming at her like a train track going over a cliff with nothing on the other side.

A step closer… but it didn't help at all. The fire spat at her until she finally had no choice but step back and watch in fear. '_Wake up!_' she yelled to herself silently, not a word escaping her lips as she watched the flames, '_This isn't right!'_

And across the flames, he answered, "No. It isn't."

Her head whipped up, hair grabbing at her eyes. The flames danced, making it harder to see the other side, so she tried to walk around the fire again- but as she moved, so did he. He didn't walk away- he was simply unreachable. Always on the other side of flames so high and cold they were impenetrable. Impossible.

The next emotion to hit the slayer was guilt, though she couldn't be sure exactly where that particular one was coming from.

"Where did you come from?" she yelled across the cracking flames; she hadn't seen him arrive. Hadn't heard his steps. The only show of his entrance was the footprints he left, heavy in the sand. Obvious. Water pooled around the prints, but never actually touched them.

Looking down, she could see that her own steps still left no such prints.

He shrugged, and the well tailored suit he wore shrugged with him. A white shirt underneath it, marred with drops of blood. A black tie. Hair obviously just cut, and well kempt. No whiskers, and no hair on his face- but she could smell the booze coming from him even through the flame, and she wondered if it were strong enough she could set him on fire.

It certainly smelled like it.

The man kicked at the sand- comfy shoes that looked to be far too expensive for even her own taste, polished perfectly.

He seemed the perfect, rather well off, gentlemen. Except, of course, for the splatters of blood every once in a while, mixed in with the fabric and cufflinks. And, sadly, for his face. One eye hidden behind a dark eye patch, the other staring at her with such anger it was impossible to measure.

A scar going past his hairline and down the side of his face until it reached his chin. Another running across his neck- Buffy wondered silently if it was self-inflicted or not, but decided she didn't care. This man… the way he stared at her, like a best friend who had abandoned him. Hurt him.

Like he had a personal vengeance to deal out.

Three steps away from the fire, she could still see the reflection of her own face in his eye, staring back at her. She looked so scared…

Black flames grew even taller, and Buffy knew that it was now in response to _him_- growing in response to his own reflection on his powers. It burned, growing taller by the second. Taller then it had gotten with her own, and it kept going. Flying upwards in patterns and shapes she would have recognized were her thought processes working properly. A wolf like creature, that giggled at her from its vantage point. A man, splattered in his own blood, camouflage fatigues.

She looked at him again, and through his anger and scary face- she knew he looked achingly familiar. Somebody she had fought with, perhaps? Somebody she had known when she was very young?

He looked at her with that anger, and then turned away to face the flames. The one eyed gaze went skyward, seeking the tips of the flames… and he smiled. It was a dim memory of a smile; one that had long since disappeard from his soul, Buffy was sure, but it was still an upturning of his lips.

"Oh my god," she breathed, quietly, bringing a hand in front of her face to try and mask her amazement, "Xander…"

The mans eyes snapped downwards quickly, locking with her own, and he said so quietly he might have hissed, "_I see you_."

And Buffy Summers woke up.

She didn't get much more sleep that night-images of Xander staring at her with those angry eyes haunted her even while she was awake.

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To be Continued…


	2. Chapter 1

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The One Who Sees  
By Vinya

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I'm gonna' do what any man would do about it. Something damn manly.  
Xander to Larry

Chapter 1: My Friends Inner Enemy

Breakfast was a silent state; Mrs. Summers had tried to make conversation with her daughter several times- but it hadn't worked quite as she had hoped. Half-hearted attempts at full sentences, silent nods, and odd stares had been her only response.

Finally setting a plate of bacon and eggs in front of her child, Joyce sat down and gave her a long look. "Buffy, dear," she tried, "What's _wrong_?"

Buffy took a single bite of her eggs, and turned to her mom. "Do you like it here? I mean- now that we've been her for a month, do you like it?"

The older woman stood silently, and grabbed an apple from the counter. Leaning, she gave her daughter a carefully prepared response. Every teenager went through this, she knew (she had looked up), homesickness. She probably just wanted to go back to Los Angelus for a while.

"It's alright," she replied, "The people are nice- the weather is almost always perfect, as if you haven't noticed. Housing prices are way down, and there are always job openings. I can't image why anybody wouldn't like it."

Buffy swallowed her piece of egg, and frowned at her mother. "Do you… what about Xander and Willow? What do you think about them?"

This hadn't been quite so expected. Joyce smiled though, and said, "I think you're already closer to them then you were your other friends. They're nice kids; I can't imagine either of them drinking or doing drugs; any of that sort of thing. They _do_ keep you out rather late, but kids today…"

"So… you think they're good people? You know, just in general?"

"Well, sure. I can't imagine I'll ever like Xander's parents- I met his father at the supermarket the other day, and it turned out he was headed towards the beer store on the other side-"

"I mean," Buffy interrupted, "You don't think either of them would ever, you know, turn against me or anything, do you?"

Her mother gave her a strange look, and finally asked, "Turn against you, _how_?"

Buffy simply shook her head, never mind, grabbed her coat and left for school.

Almost a full plate of eggs left behind her, forgotten.

It was still early, so the halls were dead silent when she arrived at Sunnydale High. Looking at her watch she could see that it was in fact only seven thirty in the morning- school wouldn't actually be starting for another forty five minutes or so.

At least she could be left alone until then, to consider just what to tell Giles.

So Buffy headed for the library, doing her best not to pace the room in expectancy for Giles to arrive. Yes, she knew he had to have a life outside the library, but it certainly wasn't easy to wait.

She was ready to admit that she was scared- she hadn't been doing this whole slayer thing for very long, after all, and she was perfectly justified in a little fear when she knew one of her only friends in Sunnydale was going to turn against her.

Try to hurt her.

It was just like the Hyena incident all over again- it had only been a week since the weird circumstance had happened, and she was still not yet totally over it. Not that she would ever tell anybody that of course. There was just something about her best friend, on top of her, laughing at her fear… ready to seriously, honestly, hurt her.

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Happy to seriously, honestly, hurt her.

But Xander didn't remember… it couldn't be mentioned, ever again. No… it would just hurt him. Scare him that he had the will to do such a thing. This was Xander after all, and whatever happened in her dream… _here_ he was still weak. Still… just a human.

Poor guy.

She remembered his face, from the dreams. So old for one so young. So ready for the inevitable, and yet not done. Like he had accepted that it had to happen eventually, and decided that when it did, it would be on his own terms. This was not the Xander she knew.

And even with the anger, the aged features, and the lack of both eyes, he seemed so much more familiar then she would like to admit. The feelings of being alone were simply so much more pronounced. That weird look she had seen on Xanders face when he realized he had to go home.

That time she had asked about a bruise on his cheek.

Those baggy clothing.

The look of pain when he sat down- though that had only happened once so far, to her knowledge.

Don't ask, don't tell.

But could his life truly be that bad, that he would turn against his friends? That he would consider it rightful justice to turn against those who really did love him? Who wanted to help him?

The doors swung open suddenly, and Buffy stopped her pacing to eye her watcher. Too many books piled under one arm, a coffee cup in the other hand, and a jacket slung over his shoulder in a bid to place it somewhere that wouldn't end up sending him and all his items flying. "Hey Giles." She said quietly, sitting down at one table finally.

"Buffy," he replied, surprised to see her here at the school so early.

He set his things down, the books more carefully then the rest, and smiled at her. "You haven't come to train, by chance? I'd love to think you were taking your training more seriously, now that you've seen how easy it is for even the more unthinkable things to happen."

"Um, no. Not so much," Buffy replied, not knowing quite how to say what needed to be said. "Giles, I had a dream last night."

"A dream," he replied simply, "Well, what with the natural laws of our minds, dreaming is quite-"

"A slayer dream, Giles," she droned, wishing she had the energy to laugh at his English sarcasm. "A really freaky one."

He blinked once, drained what was left of his coffee, and sat down at the table. Turning to her, he asked, "What was it about?"

"That's just it!" she nearly yelled, partly angry and partly scared, "I don't know! I mean… it wasn't vampires, or the future, or anything. Well, it was kind of the future. I think it was a warning."

"A warning of what?" Giles pushed, knowing better then to give her example or anything she could use to make sense of it. Dreams like these were more about instinct then anything else. Her first thoughts were likely the right ones.

"Him. I think… I don't _wan't _to think he's the next big bad, but I think he is. I think… I don't know. All I know is that he was warning me. Like, I won't be able to get away with anything because he'll always be there. Watching me. Getting ready for whatever it is we're going to be doing."

"Him?"

"The guy in my dreams… he was just watching me."

"Can you tell me anything about him?"

She hesitated for a moment, looked at him and looked away quickly. He knew then that it was something personal, and for a moment tried to categorize how many men she knew that could become a threat. How many other's it could have been.

She could have been wrong.

It was possible.

It could be true, she could be wrong.

But the list… it was very short, indeed.

"He was… older. Maybe five to seven years older then me. He was all scarred, and he only had one eye. I think it was the left one he still had- but I don't know. I don't remember. Just that he kept looking at me with his good one, and I kept looking at his bad one and knowing that it was one of the things he hated me for.

"Anything else?"

"He was wearing a suit. And shoes, all polished. His hair was really well combed. Like… he was a business man, but he had been doing a lot of fighting in his life. He was so angry, and I'm pretty sure he would have killed me right there if he could. He had power- more then me, and something I've never seen before. He was dark. Giles… I think I recognized him. I'm not sure, but I'm sure I've seen that face before."

He blinked, and looked at her with a steady eye. "Who was it?"

That was when the door once again opened, and in strode the other two members of the Scooby gang. Buffy's eyes immediately fell on Xander, who was laughing at something Willow had said- totally innocent. Totally powerless.

"Xander." She said simply, knowingly, wishing she was wrong and knowing she wasn't. "It was defiantly Xander."

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To be Continued…


	3. Chapter 2

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**Note 1:** To vanillagigglez, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

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**The One Who Sees  
By Vinya**

"I'm gonna do what any man would do about it. Something damn manly."  
Xander to Larry

Chapter 2  
Xander walked through the door, happily talking to Willow about something extraordinarily catty that he had said to Cordelia to get the girl to stop insulting him, when he heard the chatter from the library. "You think Buffster came to study for the test early too?" he asked her, genuinely curious.

Buffy wasn't exactly the type to go all out for academic achivement, but he really couldn't think of much else that she would have to do in the morning.

"Maybe," Willow responded, "But, I mean, Buffy?"

"Too true," he replied, laughing a bit as he hit the library doors and walked through.

…Just in time to catch his name.

With a stage whisper, he turned to Willow and said, "They're discussing me behind my back. Think it's good discuss, or bad discuss?"

Willow laughed, and put her books on the table as Xander followed her. "You guys are here early. What's up? Something evil and slimy?"

"We're not quite sure," Giles replied carefully, keeping on eye on Xander- who didn't miss the following stare. "Buffy had a prophetic dream last night; we were just discussing it."

"And I was in it?" Xander questioned, "Do I get the big hero role for once?"

Buffy looked at him carefully, not sure quite how to respond, and finally went for the straight forward approach. "Actually," she mumbled, "More the bad guy."

Eyebrows raised into his hair line, Xander took a step back. "What?"

"Well… I was on the beach I think. There was a bon fire- but I'm pretty sure the bon fire was metaphorical, you know? Because whenever I felt my slayer power rising in me, or whenever I focused on it, the fire would grow."

Giles nodded. "Continue."

"So there I am on the beach, and I'm alone. Except I feel somebody watching me, and it made me really uncomfortable… so I'm looking around, but nobody is there. I start walking around the bon fire, and I notice it's not getting big anymore. There's a new power… this is making sense so far, right?"

Willow nodded, worried for her friend, and took a seat beside the blonde girl. "It's okay Buffy, it was just a dream."

"But it wasn't!" Buffy exploded, standing up and swinging her hands skyward, "One moment I'm all alone, then I feel my power just… being engulfed. Not disappearing… just being overshadowed. There was somebody there! I look through the fire, and there's this shadow. This guy- except I can't see him. I just know he's there."

"And I'm the bad guy in this, how?" Xander asked, genuinely curious- it didn't sound like a Slayer dream to him, and much less one where he played a starring role.

"I'm getting to that," Buffy waved off his comment. "So I'm looking at this guy, and he's not saying or doing anything. He's all dressed up, with a suit and a tie. Nice shoes. His hair is really well cut. Then he looks up at me.

"He's maybe seven years older then us, and he looks like he knows me. I wasn't sure who it was at first. He only had one eye, and his face was scarred up. He was so angry… and he looked right at me, and he said 'I see you.' Just like that."

"Again- bad guy, how?"

The slayer took a long look at Xander, frustrated and upset. "It was you Xander. I didn't know it at first because he looked so angry. So not like you. Like he would kill me, but I couldn't move. I couldn't jump him, or run away, or anything. He was just staring at me, and he could see… I don't know. It felt like everything. He could see _me_."

"Are you sure it was a slayer dream," Giles questioned, one last look at Xander before he turned to Buffy, "Not simply stress? The master has caused us to lose a lot more sleep then I'm sure we would like-"

"No!" She exploded again, "It was real. It was Xander, and he wanted to kill me- but he was still my Xander, because he was warning me about it. You know? Like, if he had to do it at least he was going to give me a fair chance. And he was powerful. Dangerous. He was a big bad- and he scared me more then even the master did the first time I saw him, because with the master it wasn't personal… but I'm sure it is with Xander. And…" She stopped, breaking off her rant.

"Xander," she said slowly, "I'm sorry."

Everybody turned to the awe struck teen, who was simply sitting there and taking it all in with what seemed to be stride. Until you saw his eyes. "This is impossible." he said simply.

"Xander-"

"Buffy," he cut her off, "I wouldn't hurt you- I wouldn't touch you! And… I mean, come on! You really think I would just go off the deep end? Just like that?"

He stood and turned on his heel. "When you people get it into your heads that I'm you _friend_- come find me."

_To be Continued_


	4. Chapter 3

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Note 1:** To vanillagigglez, Don't be too upset! lol There's still more coming!  
To TD Master, I'm glad I got you're interest, I hope you stick around for more!

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The One Who Sees  
By Vinya

"I'm gonna do what any man would do about it. Something damn manly."  
Xander to Larry

Chapter 3  
He strode through the school quickly, ignoring the passing glances and stares of people who he pushed past. There weren't many of them, it was still early after all- but there was enough to make him feel like he was being watched behind his back.Climbing the stairs he continued on until he had reached the third floor, on the far end of the school. As far as he could possibly get from his 'friends'. They were supposed to trust him! Share with him! Wait for him!

Instead Buffy was having dreams of him being all dark and evil… it wasn't exactly a major motivator on the friend front. It hurt.

'And what if…' he thought to himself slowly, 'What if she was right? What if it was a slayer dream? A warning of the future? A future where he couldn't be trusted. A future where he stood up against the forces of good- and was successful? Powerful?'

It wasn't just the fact that he would hurt his friends that scared him- but the fact that he _could_. That one day he would be powerful enough to take down a slayer, and her friends. On the same level of a master Vampire.

God- what if he _was_ a Vampire? What if he got bit on day, and ended up attacking and taking down his friends one by one?

She said he had power. Magical or physical? Now he wished he hadn't stomped away so quickly- but then _that_ was scaring him too. This feeling… he had never been the one on top before. The one who could bring everybody else down. He had never before been in any position of power.

And now he knew he could… but at the price of his friends. Maybe his soul.

Apparently his eye.

Looking around he spotted a lounge, and without a moments thought he sat down to consider what was going to happen now. They knew the future… so what do they do about it? He knew it was something he should have been discussing with the other Scooby's, but… no. They were going to have second thoughts about having him in the group now, and that wasn't something he wanted to deal with right now.

So… the future. He had watched enough science fiction to know that time wasn't something to be messed with. It might be because of his actions that the future turned out bad. But then, it could be from inaction as well.

…The future was just too confusing.

He blinked, and for a moment wondered just what that feeling was. Somebody watching him. He turned quickly, and there was Jonathan on the couch, staring. "What?" he asked bluntly, maybe a bit rudely.

"Nothin'," was the sad reply.

Xander bit back a reply, and stood up to leave. Just because he was feeling down, he knew, was no reason to infect others. "Look Jon," he said slowly, "Sorry. I'm just… you know. Trouble in paradise."

He nodded, and went back to his book. Xander was about to leave, when he saw just how old the book looked. "What's that?"

"This?" Jon replied, "Um… just a book. I got it out of the library. Magick and stuff. It's pretty cool."

"Yeah?"

"Uh huh."

"…You found the naked girls sacrifices, right?"

Jon turned beet red as Xander laughed- not _at _him, just in general. "You think I spend all that time in the library and never would have found out myself?"

Five minutes later Xander was back in the library, Jonathan at his side with his books under his arm.

"Hey guys," Xander said happily, a complete turn over from his previous mood, "We want to find out the future- I got just the guy."

And they all began to stare at poor Jonathan.

To be Continued


	5. Chapter 4

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The One Who Sees  
By Vinya

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"I'm gonna do what any man would do about it. Something damn manly."  
Xander to Larry

Chapter 4  
Jonathan stood over one of the library tables as he flipped through his book- he had called it his book of shadows, a self written spell book with everything he thought important enough to save for future reference. He had also pointed out his book of mirrors, though hadn't gone into much detail about it.

"I know loads of divination spells," he said to the group, "But I've never been really good at them. There are simple things, like using a pendulum for yes or no answers, but I don't think that's going to be deep enough for your problem."

Everybody watched him, little tiny Jonathan, flip through his book of magic with ease. It was weird… this little guy had power in him that nobody had expected. Nobody had imagined. He had started in on the books, apparently, for the pictures… and gotten obsessed.

"I don't have much in here for beginners," he said slowly, as he reached the back of the book, "But I do have one. You're going to need somebody really old and powerful to do it though."

"What do you mean?" Giles questioned.

"Well," he replied, "You're not going to be able to get somebody brand new to just see the future- it doesn't work that way. Magick, real magick, needs mental dicipline. So you need to find somebody older, who has experience in these things."

"And he'll be able to see the future?" Buffy asked, happy for something to do about this dream she had had. "Like a movie?"

"Not this one," Jonathan explained, "You're trying to get details on Xanders life, right? So you get this guy, and you get Xander. It'll be kinda like a Vulcan mind meld. The guy goes into Xanders head, and will be able to, well, put the memories there. Then, when the spell is over, Xander will remember everything about the event that the first guy was focusing on."

"So… we need to know something about the future, an event, before he'll be able to remember it?"

"Yeah."

Buffy nodded her thanks to the younger boy, who quickly wrote out the spell and incantation for Willow. She seemed to find the whole idea of magick interstesing, and their conversation was getting more and more exciting as it wore on.

Once she had it, they all crowded around the paper. Buffy looked up to the others, "I think I know who we should get to do the spell."

Giles gave her a long look before glancing at Xander. "Are you sure, they hate each other quite a bit- I doubt it would work with such feelings between them."

Xander blinked. "No."

"Please Xander!"

"No."

"C'mon," Willow said, catching on, "He's older then any of us, and he knows a bit of magic. It's not like he's new to it, with the whole curse thing and all. He has power."

"Evil power."

"Xander- I know you don't like him, but I don't… if you could have seen yourself in the dream, you would agree. It's not a future I can let come true. That's the end of all facts. Please, let us call Angel on this."

Xander sighed. "You know," he said slowly, "My future is already crap- and I haven't even gotten there yet."

Two minutes later, at Angels Mansion, Angel hung up the phone with a small click. He wondered to himself just why he agreed to help Xander- the boy was annoying, there was no doubt about that. Useless in a fight, rude, and frankly not the smartest bird in the nest.

Not just that, but whenever he went near the boy his demon would go nuts. Usually he just wanted to kill people. Bite them, eat them, and finish them. Play around with their minds, and mess with their friends. But every once in a blue moon he would come across somebody that was truly…

Meant for it.

To be a Vampire.

Somebody who could be truly evil, if only given the chance. Xander was the push over to beat all, but the plain and simple fact was that he was repressing all his hatred. His anger. He never took out his emotions on anybody, which was why they all thought him powerless.

All he needed though, was a good reason to let it out.

…And if he could stop a new big bad from coming into play, then that was what he had to do.

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To be Continued


	6. Interlude

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The One Who Sees  
By Vinya

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"I'm gonna do what any man would do about it. Something damn manly."  
Xander to Larry

Interlude  
He stood back, watching through a classroom door window as the young boy stomped away from the library. Anger in his mind…

He remembered those days well. High school- what a crock. He didn't learn anything there that couldn't have been learned in the outside world. All that had happened was he learned just how cruel kids could be.

Mostly to him.

He blinked away the thoughts, and saw a shorter boy now… Jonathan. Ah Jonathan, the thoughts came rushing back to him. Memories of the young boy who was just trying to get by. Who wanted to just end it all- and would give it a damn good try.

But he would resort to more and more dangerous means to gain attention. Not something very helpful to his reputation. …But then, memories were fickel things, as he well knew. It was like a history book- written by the winners, and explained by the losers.

He remembered Jonathan as a powerless child… he hadn't learned of his leaning towards magic until after school had ended. But that? That was something that could change.

He saw the chair that the boy was turning towards, and quickly rushed out and took it, trying to pretend as if he was a substitue for the school. Jonathan, seeing the chair being taken away (though he never saw the face of the man who took it), turned around in search of different seating.

He headed towards a table, so he rushed out again, this time cutting off a group of cheerleaders so that they would instead head in the same direction. Jonathan, not wanting a confrontation, turned instead towards the lounge. The same place that Xander was heading.

"There we go," Lex mumbled under his breath, "A good three years of them fumbling about, trying to figure out how Xander turned dark is hacked off the future- and here I thought my job would be hard."

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To be Continued


	7. Chapter 5

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Note 1:** Rivana, Moonjava, Malakhim, Swede85, WBH21C, dogbertcarroll, vanillagigglez, and Fallen Sky- thank you all for the reviews.

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The One Who Sees  
By Vinya

"I'm gonna do what any man would do about it. Something damn manly."  
Xander to Larry

Chapter 5  
"Explain again how this is supposed to work?"Willow was having a bit of a hard time trying to understand all that was going on- she was used to science. Nice, hard science that wouldn't come back and bite her in the butt on it's way out. Nice, hard science that would always be useful- and nobody could make fun of her for it. Not for knowing the facts. Science and facts had won her what few school friends she had made over her life, as well as parental interest.

Magick was… new. Special. Interesting, different, and even a little scary. It was something she hadn't studied before, and because of that she wanted to know every single little thing.

"It's simple," Jonathan said from his place in the circle, his back turned from her as he began to light the candles. "Brown candle because we're asking for a special favour from the goddess, then the silver candle to mean that we want the favour to come in the form as a dream- waking in this case. Then purple for spiritual wisdom, and for wisdom in how we use the information, blue to open the lines of communication between us and the future- also helped by the silver candle. Red for it to be a fast acting spell, and yellow for mental blocks to come down, and for memory. Six candles in all- the number representing ability to get past difficulties, new thoughts, and new attitudes."

Willow blinked once, and smiled. "Really?" She asked, excited, "It sounds pretty exact."

He turned to her, and smiled back shyly. "I guess it is- the way I do it. It's mostly just karma and belief when it all comes down to it."

"Still," she replied, "You have to have been studying this stuff for a while-"

She was cut off when the doors to the library swung open, Buffy standing between them as she survaed the room; Angel standing behind her. Neither said a word until Xander looked up from the library book he had been reading and gave them both a long look. "About time," he muttered, "What took you guys?"

Angel frowned at his attitude- he didn't have to be here after all, and the only reason he was, was because Buffy would have given him that horrible hurt puppy expression otherwise. Instead of saying anything he just pointed out the window where the sun was still high enough to create a gorgeous sky of reds and purples.

Buffy wasn't so polite, she walked right up to Xander and decided that Angel needed defending- much to the older mans displeasure. "He got here as soon as he could," she said angrily, "And it wasn't like he had to come-"

Angel nodded.

"-He's here as a favour to _you_! Unless you want to turn evil?"

The last part was sarcastic. She could see his eyes flash silently, and knew that he really didn't want Angel to be there at all. Xander hated to seem any weaker then he was, and having one of his enemies here to help him with a problem that he wasn't totally convinced of certainly wasn't helping his mental state at all. For a moment she thought her friend might rise and challenge her- at least with words, but instead he turned to Jonathan.

"Can we get this over with then?"

Jonathan smiled at the thought of being useful, and quickly hustled Willow away from his circle and away from the candles. He pulled Xander into the circle and sat him on one far side, then pulled Angel over as well. (completely oblivious to the size or species of said Vampire, what with having been beat up by far more dangerous looking people in his time)

"You sit here," he explain to Xander, "and you… um, Angel, right? You sit here, across from him. Then, when you're both ready, you both close your eyes. Xander has to clear his mind as much as possible, and leave it open so that you can get in… kind of. While he's doing that you're going to focus on something we know is going to happen in the future. We'll do something simple at first- Halloween is coming up, so all you have to do is think about Halloween and what Xander would be doing.

"I'll be chanting the incantation while you're doing this. So Xander, hearing the incantation with a clear mind, will be influenced by the… well, the time frame that you're setting up. He'll be there, for all intents and purposes, doing whatever it is in the future that he's doing, and you'll be able to see it in your minds eye. Since he's the one seeing it, he won't be able to really explain it to us. He won't really know he's not really there. You're going to have to tell us what's going on for him, okay?"

Everybody blinked at the sight of Jonathan and his many words- they had _maybe_ heard him say a grand total of twenty words during the course of any conversation they had ever gotten into with him, and the fact that he seemed to know so much of what he was doing wasn't so much shocking as unexpected.

Giles came around a book stack then, a number of reference lists in his hands. "Is there anything that could go wrong?" He asked, "There won't be any side effects I trust?"

"They'll both know a lot more then they know now," Jonathan replied calmly, "But then, that's the point, isn't it?"

With a bit of a sigh, Giles took off his glasses and began to silently clean them- everybody watched as Xander sat back and began to relax, as Angel put his hands on the sides of the younger boys head, and Jon began to chant.

This was the moment their lives would be changed forever.

To be Continued


	8. Chapter 6

****

The One Who Sees  
By Vinya

__

"I'm gonna do what any man would do about it. Something damn manly."  
Xander to Larry

Chapter 5  
Angel blinked a few times as his eyes adjusted to the lighting around him- only a moment ago he had been in the library, listening to that Jonathan boy reading from one of his larger tombs…

No, he could still here it. Voices in the background, as if they were overshadowing the sounds around him. For a moment he could have sworn he really was on the streets of Sunnydale, kids running around him, people scaring each other and laughing about it.

It took a moment for his mind to catch up with him.

"I'm in," he said slowly, testing his words. They were oddly light, and he could barely hear what he was saying- they were like the sounds of the distant voices. "This is… it's strange. It's like I'm really here."

"Where's here?" a stronger voice asked, forcing him back into reality.

It was Giles, though it was only the tone that gave it away. They were all so far off that it was hard to distinguish particular voices. "In Sunnydale- obviously I guess. I'm actually not seeing Xander everywhere. Just people running around in costume."

"It might take a second," another voice said- this one had to be Jonathan. The others wouldn't know. "It's your first time doing the spell, so it won't be so simple as to jump right in."

Angel took a second to look around, following different people and even trying to pick out a few scents. "Cordelia is dressed up like a cat," he said slowly when he found one, "Um… I think I can smell you, Buffy."

His eyes trailed down the street and he began to jog. Faintly he could hear Willow talking… something about finding any of the trio, and the other two wouldn't be far behind. For a moment Angel considered pointing out that this was the future and there really was no way to tell what was going to happen-

But he saw them.

Buffy was dressed up like one of the woman he would have courted in what felt like such a short time, a life time, ago. Willow- and he could only tell that from the scent, was set up under what looked like a bed cloth with the words 'Boo' written across it, and Xander was there as well.

A rifle in one hand, and a set of fatigues to make up his costume.

"I see them," he told the Scoobies, "And Buffy," he added on, "Your costume is gorgeous."

He could hear the delighted giggle in the background, and would have responded if it wasn't for the fact that the golden trio seemed to be splitting up. "You're all going separate ways… I think you all got pushed into bringing kids around for 'treating."

He could hear a groan in the background, and then a shush as Giles obviously told his Slayer off. "I don't think anything is happening here," he told Jonathan, "It was a good trial run, but I think we should go farther into the future."

He was about to leave when something… shifted. There was no other word for it. One moment Xander had been walking around, kids in tow, a bag of chocolate all his own slung over his shoulder- then the _real_ screaming began. Screaming like this he hadn't heard in an age, but you couldn't misplace it. Fifty suddenly terrified people, scattering like rats.

Angel must have shown how startled he was, because questions began to fly from the background. What was going on. Why. How. He couldn't answer them- he was too busy doing his own running. He couldn't be sure, of course, if he was tangable or not here. What would happen if somebody tried to run through him.

All he knew what that all too suddenly little, rather useless Xander had a huge gun in his hands and really wasn't being all to subtle about it. "He's got a gun."

"What?"

The question was unnamamious, and so the Vampire had to finally stop behind a large dumpster and wait for a moment to explain. "Xander. Something happened. People are literally turning into their costumes- at least, that's what it looks like. Xander has a gun."

Then- a tugging sensation. As if he was pulled right up and off of his feet, Angel was gone and the memory of things that hadn't even happened yet had disappeared in a blink of light.

"Let's trying going a little further." a voice mumbled, and suddenly he was standing on a top of an old, abandoned staircase.

The smell of blood was strong.

__

To be Continued


	9. Chapter 7

****

The One Who Sees  
By Vinya

__

"I'm gonna do what any man would do about it. Something damn manly."  
Xander to Larry

Chapter 7  
Xander sat quietly in the circle, his eyes fighting the need to open and see just what was going on around him. It was an odd feeling- he could actually feel Angel rifling around inside his head, and it made him sick.

He wanted to shove him out. He wanted the demon _gone_!

Memories came to the surface suddenly- Halloween. He was actually doing it; bringing up memories of things that hadn't happened yet. He could hear Angel in the background, sharing _his_ secrets with the other Scooby's.

Silently he steamed at their lack of decency. These were his memories.

He managed to push those thoughts to the side though; they were his friends, and they didn't want to see him go dark. He understood that. Yeah, he got that. It wasn't like he _wanted_ to go to the dark side or anything, he just wanted to know… he wanted to know he was a good guy in the end. That he always had a good reason- even if Buffy couldn't see it.

He could live with that.

Halloween memories started coming faster.

__

"I think I can smell you, Buffy," the words were quiet, but he could hear them through the noise of the street.

Something shifted, and before he was being pushed out of the memory. There was something different though-

"AAH!" Xander screamed loudly, jerking away from Angel. He could remember it all- it shouldn't be real! Couldn't! There was no way! _Bombs dropping, gun in hand, men in fatigues laying in the ditch beside him._

He turned to O'Neill- he was alright, getting ready to shoot again. He turned to Lamour- half his head was gone. Dammit, they had hit their target, Lamour was dead. SG-2 was going to be freakin' mad- at first. Then they're going to go through hell.

Another glance; Jackson. He was alive. This was all his fault, how could General West have ever trusted him! Getting them stuck on this damned-

A sudden shaking, a shaky gasp, and suddenly Buffy was there in front of him. "What happened?"

Xander simply sat there gasping, shaking, sweating with the on looks of the others. Angel took one look at him, before turning to Giles. "I think, on Halloween, something nasty happened. I could feel an invading force on his mind. Girls, I think he was possessed."

"By what?" Willow shrieked, "Oh, god! Xander! Was he alright? Was he hurt? Did it-"

"I don't know," Angel interrupted, "It ended too quickly. We were there, I was about to try and change memories, and then we were there…"

"Where?"

"On a battlefield. There were bombs going off, guns… I think Xander saw a guy with his head blown off, then you woke him up."

Everybody turned carefully to Xander, who had pulled his knees up close to his head while still shaking. Jonathan was trying to calm him down, but it really wasn't working all too well.

"So he was possessed?" Buffy asked sharply, "Is that why he wanted to kill me? Because I don't think it was that… it was still Xander, like I said. Just an angry, older version."

"Alright," Giles said, as he rushed to make a pot of tea for the still shaking Xander, "So he may have… gotten over the possession. But the fact remains he had to have kept those memories, or they wouldn't have forced their way into the spell without any attempt from you."

"Alright- so he's marred with a bunch of war and death memories," Angel shook off, "Is that really enough to turn him dark though?"

"I don't think so," Willow refused, "No way. Something really nasty would have had to happen to him; he wouldn't just want to go after Buffy for the sake of it."

Xander was finally calmed now, taking the tea from Giles with a soft 'Thank you,'. It wasn't much, but the memories were already fading. It was horrifying to know he was going to get all those memories- and that they wouldn't go away once the spell wore off next time.

On the plus side, maybe he could use a few military mumblings. They could be useful…

"What memories are we going to use next?" Buffy asked, not quite sure if she should be speaking up about continuing onwards after the last attempt. "I mean, what do we know _will _ happen? No matter what?"

__

To Be Continued


	10. Chapter 8

****

The One Who Sees  
By Vinya

__

"I'm gonna do what any man would do about it. Something damn manly."  
Xander to Larry

Chapter 8  
They had taken another ten minutes before Xander had completely managed to calm himself enough to clear his mind. The memories hadn't quite faded, but they were gone enough that he could pretend they didn't exist until Halloween. Then the discussion had begun.

"Well," Willow had started, "We know he's going to go on a road trip- we could use that as a memory."

"Graduation? Presuming we live that long of course…"

"Fighting the master," Giles interrupted Buffy, "We know that you'll all go up against him again."

"Presuming," Buffy started again, "We live long enough."

"A first girlfriend?" Angel started, trying for the more simply approach, after seeing what the last attempt had done to their friend, "Moving out?"

"We're looking for things that'll turn me **dark**," Xander had interrupted, "We should be goin' for the down and nasty." -not that he wanted to know the down and nasty, but he wanted to be dark even less. "We don't have to use something specific, do we Jon?"

Jonathan had shook his head. "No. Say, if you wanted to see if you just ever had to stand alone, without your friends beside you. All you have to do is think of that- and those are the times that the darkest things will happen to you, when you're alone."

Nobody asked how he knew that, and they sat back to try again.

Angel sat back down in the circle, and before he knew it they were once again immersed in his memories.

__

It was weird- he had fallen into the memory easily, but what he hadn't been expecting was to see himself. He was there, in the middle of the street, talking to Harris about something important…

"What's going on?" He heard Buffy ask.

"We're here. I mean, memory Xander, and a memory me. We're- whoa!"

"What's wrong?" Willow asked, scared.

"I grabbed him… I think it's some sort of plan. I grabbed him by the neck, and I'm dragging him, but he doesn't seem that scared. Just pissed. We're heading towards the school."

"What's there?"

It was almost like putting the memories on fast forward- once second he was at least four blocks from the school, the next second he was standing in front of the front doors, watching as…

"William."

"What?"

Not sure of who asked the question, Angel returned, "William the Bloody- a childe of mine I hadn't seen in years. He's going to be in Sunnydale within tops two years."

And he was ripped out of the memory.

Xander was standing above him before he had even opened his eyes properly, his eyes wide open, and his face red with anger. The girls all jumped to him, trying to find out what was wrong with him this time, but he simply shoved them off. "He," Xander ground out, pointing to where Angel still sat, "He _offered_ me to him! He offered me to his frickin' vampire buddy! Like a gift!"

"_What_?"

Giles was looking decidly pissed now too, and ready to explode. "What do you think you were _doing_?"

All Angel could think to say was, "I don't know. After all, it's not like it's even happened yet.

Xander gave him a long stare, still angry. Fuming mad in fact.

"Forget this," he finally said, "If this is what my future is going to be like, I don't want to know. Let it happen- and if you guys are gonna' turn on me so many times that I really actually want to _kill_ you, then I say let it happen. Nobody will get what they won't deserve.

"You don't mean that Xander," Willow replied quickly, stepping between Xander and the door, "This is important! You know it is! Let's just do this, quick, okay? For me?"

Xander paused, gave her a long look, and sighed.

"Fine," he muttered, "But from now on, we're doing the memories _I _want."

__

To Be Continued


	11. Interlude 2

****

The One Who Sees  
By Vinya

__

"I'm gonna do what any man would do about it. Something damn manly."  
Xander to Larry

Interlude  
The older man stood outside the library, listening with a trained ear through the door. For a while he had been afraid the Vampire would sense him- but luckily he still smelled as he always had, and the Vamp had decided it must just be left over scent. Like he had brushed the wall or something.

And damn it, he still knew a thing or two about hiding from the creatures of the underworld.

The problem was that things weren't going the way they were supposed to be. This should have been her second chance. This was supposed to be Xander's go at looking through all his memories and finding all the times that Buffy had saved him. The friendly moments. The good moments.

This was their chance to see just how useful their Xander was, before they used and abused him.

This was supposed to be the dimension where everything went _right_.

But no, he focused on the bad memories. Just like he always had. First it had been the military- alright, that one had ended up being useful. Then Angel turning against him. Then… he had focused on all the times they had turned on him in general.

Willow shooting him with magic. Buffy trying to kill his finance- though he hadn't been able to figure out who the demon was during the memory, he knew Buffy shouldn't have been trying to kill her. All those times he had been left behind. Ignored. Forced to keep Spike in his basement.

Then it had gone to Jon's ideas: times he had been forced to work through things alone. Bombs almost going off. Standing against a priest- there had been some good curses coming from the library when Xander had suddenly started freaking out, rolling on the floor, his hands over his left eye.

__

"STOOOOP! GOD, STOP! LET ME GO!"

__

"Xander, stop! Angel- what's happening to him!"

"He was attacked, in his memories. There was a man, he just shoved his thumb right through Xanders eye- he was saving Buffy when it happened."

"Oh god…"

"IT HURTS! LET ME GO!"

"XANDER! Come on back, man," Jon had tried to reason, "Come on back, spell is broken, come on back!"

The older man walked away sadly. He had done this all in an attempt to make it so he would never _have_ to get vengeance. He never liked having to hurt anybody, but when there was no choice.

He shrugged his shoulders, and continued down the hall. When there was no choice, there was no choice.

He never saw Cordelia watching him from down the hall.

__

To Be Continued


End file.
